Vet nurse Louise Hopper with a Carnaby’s black cockatoo. Picture: Marcelo Palacios www.communitypix.com.au Buy this photoENVIRONMENTALISTS are worried organophosphate poisoning could have wiped out an entire flock of Carnaby’s black cockatoos.

As first reported in the Canning Times on June 5, a Perth Zoo spokesman said there had been 19 deaths of the endangered species between January and May from suspected poisoning, with another three recovering.

Black Cockatoo Preservation Society chairman and founder Glenn Dewhurst said the location where the birds were found with suspected poisoning and the numbers suggested an entire flock was targeted.

“It is rare to get a flock over 20 birds nowadays,” he said.

“Also we do know that flocks do fly throughout the Bentley to Bull Creek area which is where these birds were found.

“This suggests that an entire flock has been knocked out.”

Mr Dewhurst said he was worried the birds were deliberately poisoned.

“This stuff (organophosphates) is readily available and there are people out there that don’t like the birds,” he said.

“It has been used to kill pigeons and corellas. So it is a known bird killer.”

A Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman said an investigation into the deaths was still ongoing and could not comment until it was completed.

The three Carnaby’s black cockatoos that survived the poisoning are now recovering at Kaarkakin Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre in Martin.

The other survivors recovering at the centre include a male and female Carnaby’s black cockatoo, both found in Bentley, and a female Baudin’s black cockatoo found in Bedfordale.